Field of the Disclosure
Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communication, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to the use of multiple credentials for traffic differentiation.
Description of Related Art
Different forms of connection and subscription management are employed in different wireless communication networks. Third generation partnership project (3GPP) defined the use of one subscription at a time. 3GPP does not enable dynamic subscriptions or over-the-air (OTA) sign-up by a user equipment (UE). The Wi-Fi alliance specifies, as a starting point, that a user selects manually the subscription to be used. This selection could be performed by upper layer solutions. Based on the subscription selected, appropriate policies (e.g., Hotspot 2.0 managed object (HS2.0 MO)) are used. Thus, in some aspects, Wi-Fi enables dynamic subscriptions and OTA sign up for provisioning. In 3GPP and wireless local area network (WLAN) deployments, all mechanisms are defined considering only one subscription being used at any single time. However, there can be a scenario with multiple credentials in use. When a user is connected to a 3GPP network, the user may manually select a specific WLAN and the credentials for it. This typically leads to non-seamless WLAN offload (NSWO) connectivity. Traffic routing is then based on access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF). It is theoretically possible that the UE selects a different subscription and a WLAN that enables evolved packet core (EPC) connectivity, but UE and network behavior for traffic routing is rather undefined in that case. HS2.0 OTA sign-up is not adopted by 3GPP.
3GPP has defined network-based policing mechanisms employing network awareness. This network awareness is based on applications and traffic type. For example, a policy and charging control (PCC) function has awareness for charging and policing of traffic type and applications such as application-based charging (ABC). Deep packet inspection (DPI) is used in most cases. Thus, there is an implicit awareness of these network attributes. The 3GPP policing mechanism is centralized in the packet data network gateway (PDN GW).
Policing based on quality of service (QoS) status has also been proposed. QoS in a 3GPP network can involve a “pipe” model employing dedicated bearers with QoS “enforcement” in the radio access network (RAN) and the core network (CN) (e.g., in a PDN GW). QoS in a 3GPP network can involve a centralized policing model employing PCC in a PDN GW, whereby “remote” control of QoS enforcement is accomplished in the RAN. In 3GPP policing, the PCC applies traffic policies. There are no per application QoS or per application requirements, just per application charging when ABC is implemented (DPI approach). QoS in Wi-Fi involves IP traffic mapped to access classes based on traffic marking. There is no bearer concept. In practice, QoS has not been deployed in 3GPP or Wi-Fi networks due to lack of compelling business cases (e.g., the lack of actual need).
In a QoS model with traffic differentiation, a device “marks” packets appropriately to enable the network to differentiate the traffic. In a passive model (DPI-based), traffic is routed in the core network and examined. An active 3GPP model employs QoS with dedicated bearer creation based on PCC. Also, a device can communicate to a PDN GW information on applications.